Vaqueros is a dandy mascot for new university

Published 12:00 am, Saturday, November 15, 2014

The vaquero, the new mascot for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is also an American icon.

The vaquero, the new mascot for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is also an American icon.

Photo: Nathan Lambrecht / Nathan Lambrecht / Associated Press

Vaqueros is a dandy mascot for new university

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In Austin, they’re Longhorns. In San Antonio, they’re Roadrunners. In El Paso, they’re Miners, and in Tyler, they’re Patriots whose logo is an American bald eagle. Those sitting in Arlington classrooms are Mustangs, and there are Comets in Dallas. At the Permian Basin campus, they’re Falcons.

And as of Nov. 6, students at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley are the Vaqueros. There’s no logo yet, but “vaquero” is the Spanish word for cowboy, and the selection is an homage to the “horsemen and cattle herders who laid the foundation for the North American cowboy and cowboy culture,” icons who can trace their origins to South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, according to a news release from the UT office of public affairs.

Vaqueros aren’t a popular choice.

UTRGV is the University of Texas’ newest academic institution, born from the merger of UT-Pan American and UT-Brownsville, and the addition of a medical school. The University of Texas System board of regents OK’d the move to call the UTRGV athletic teams the Vaqueros, based on the recommendation of university President Guy Bailey.

There had been attempts to keep UTPA’s mascot, the Bronc, but not so much of a push to incorporate the Ocelot from UT-Brownsville.

Choosing Vaqueros was supposed to give the new school a new identity, although UTPA’s mascot is Bucky the Bronc, whose name is said to be inspired by the Wild West word “buckaroo,” which sounds a lot like what vaquero would sound like if it were said by those who — pobrecitos — didn’t know how to speak Spanish.

Detractors lit up social media almost as soon as it was chosen; such a name is going to lead to racist and stereotypical depictions, they said.

Images of students wearing sombreros and sarapes or wrapped in foil like burritos were tweeted, Facebooked and Instagrammed to make the point that this is how the UT system sees Valley students, as well as one of a student depicted as a nopal — literally a prickly pear cactus but also the equivalent of calling someone of Mexican descent a bumpkin.

Some even pointed out that the gender-specific word for cowboy wasn’t inclusive to the women who would be represented by the icon.

And by Monday, students were marching around, holding signs protesting the name.

All of which is understandable.

Those of us who roll our eyes at goofy stereotypes on logos put together by those who don’t understand our culture — or debate whether to correct unnecessarily rolled r’s exaggerated by those who don’t speak Spanish — also understand that it’s probably best to nip that kind of thing in the bud before sweatshirts are printed.

But even that is tricky; push back too hard or bring up cultural insensitivity when someone brings maracas or yells “Ole!” in the cheering section and it’s seen as misplaced outrage.

However, there’s nothing wrong with Vaqueros — or Vaqueras. Or choosing a Spanish word to represent.

The Mexican cowboys who helped shape the Southwest earned their place as American icons, and the days of using words such as hoosegow instead of juzgado are behind us.

Spotlighting history and using Spanish isn’t defiance worthy of mockery; it’s going forward with what’s long overdue.